Introduction
This new article series explores the crucial areas of internal audit people management: attract, reward, manage, and develop; a framework that is used to present a range of practical outcomes that internal audit teams are looking to achieve in each area and suggests a variety of examples of activities and initiatives that they are conducting to achieve these outcomes. My aim is that after reading these articles, everyone can take at least one idea back to their individual function for implementation.
In this article we'll cover:
Internal audit management framework
Audit functions have a lot of moving parts, all of which are crucial for their success. Typically, this would include:
- An audit planning process to identify the right work based on organizational objectives and the risks that are being run. All about what we do.
- An audit methodology which outlines how we will conduct our work, what the stages will be in each assignment we conduct to ensure it is of a high quality, and that the conclusions are objective and robust.
- An audit tool – such as TeamMate+ – that helps auditors efficiently and effectively move through the audit workflow, end to end. From establishing annual plans, planning audits and fieldwork, to execution, reporting, closing the audit, and follow up.
- Further systems or tools that help us do our work. This may be, for example, specialist data analytics tools, or visualization tools to demonstrate our results.
- Quality management processes, such as tollgate meetings, four eyes sign off and review, and internal and external quality assurance to ensure that quality remains high.
However, this process will only take a function so far. You will only achieve the highest level of impact if you attract, reward, manage, and develop the talent needed to ensure delivery of your audit objectives and, through this, support the achievement of business priorities.
Richard Branson once said:
“Develop your people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don't want to.”
So, how do you stack up against this?
All audit functions are reliant on the quality of their people to deliver impactful audit. However, attracting the best talent — and then motivating and developing this talent — is challenging and often not a natural skill set for internal audit managers who have often been promoted due to their effective audit skills, and not their ability to get the best out of their people.
In this series of articles, I present a framework for successful internal audit people management, drawn from real world experience. The key learning I have made over the last 20 years of conducting and observing internal audit people management activity is that you need to take a systematic approach by considering each of the four areas shown. Simply pulling one or two of the levers without, at the very least, considering the implications for the other levers may mean that the potential impact of the activity will be, at best, blunted, and at worst, non-existent.
In this context I propose that the overall aim of your internal audit people strategy should be to:
“Attract, reward, manage and develop the talent you need (the right capabilities, skills, and attitudes) to ensure delivery of your business priorities”
This takes us through the employee lifecycle and encourages you to consider all the important touch points with your colleagues. Your goal is to make the employee experience as effective as possible and to ensure that you can get the best out of all your people:
- Attract is all about taking a long term view of your resourcing needs and having the means to effectively attract and select people with the skills, knowledge, and attitudes you need. You can learn more about how the Institute of Internal Auditors (IIA) approaches resourcing considerations for internal audit activity by reading their report.
- Reward, at its simplest, is about attracting, retaining, and motivating people who use their skills and knowledge to deliver your objectives. Ensuring that the reward systems you have in place promotes the behaviors you have identified as being key to your success. This is likely to include objectivity and independence (more on that later).
- Manage is about ensuring that your people are led and motivated effectively. To do this effectively, your managers require the proper tools and skills. This will mean that people are fully empowered to make decisions at the right level and at the right time, something that I see operating poorly in many audit functions who are slaves to the audit methodology. It also means that people are held accountable for their actions. To ensure this, you must provide regular and honest feedback on performance.
- Develop a focus on ensuring that you are successful in identifying and developing talent at all levels of your function, and that people are supported in the development of their capabilities, knowledge, and experience.